God Everywhere

Well, it's back to normal after the travel experience. Normal but tired, I suspect, as I'm blogging instead of sleeping, having misjudged and slept too late this morning, so now I can't drop off.

Travel is not normal for brethren, with the usual exception of the elite, and such travel as is permitted is restricted to the few countries where brethren live. I can see why, as it's much easier to retain convenient preconceptions if you never go to check them out. Everybody is a foreigner to the brethren, and abroad yet more so. Why risk the head-scratching that could result from discovering that people in other countries are people too, with the same mix of foibles and morals that those close to hand have?

"Peru? But that isn't a Christian country, you can't go there," I was told. I said I thought that actually it was Catholic, but I didn't know much more.

In the event, the Christianity on display is much more overt than anything I've seen before. Most people seem to be devout to some extent, unlike in Europe, and they're not shy about showing it. Taxis often have little shrines on the dashboard, or large stickers in the windows claiming the protection of God (or some subsidiary in the form of a saint). Of course, they need all the protection they can get, the way most of them drive. T-shirts with religious messages are common on young people. Out in the wilderness of the altiplano, miles from anywhere, we met the "Faith In Christ" filling station, and it wasn't unusual. One of the biggest bus companies is called "The Lord of the Miracles". Most towns and cities of any size appear to have a huge religious statue on a hill at the edge of the town - Rio is not alone in that by a long way. And my personal favourite sign of religion: the digital screen on a public telephone that scrolled "God loves you, you are never alone" throughout a call.

I explained to my hosts when discussing my family that their community thought God only watched and took care of countries where brethren were, and that therefore they were extremely worried about my being in Peru. Naturally, they were quite perturbed at the thought. They referred to it quite frequently throughout my stay, and said that I must tell my parents when I returned that God was as much in Peru as anywhere and that it was a slight on Him to think otherwise.

So far I haven't spoken to my parents since my return, but I think that's fair enough as a message.